View source for Turpin site

{{short description|Archaeological site in Ohio, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP
| name         = Turpin site
| nrhp_type    =
| image        = Turpin Site.jpg
| caption      = Overview of the site
| location     = On the Turpin farm property
| nearest_city = [[Newtown, Ohio|Newtown]], [[Ohio]]
| coordinates  = {{coord|39|7|22.8|N|84|22|19.2|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin     = Ohio#USA
| architect    =
| architecture =
| added        = December 27, 1974
| area         = {{convert|9|acre}}
| refnum       = 74001514<ref name=nris>{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>
}}

The '''Turpin site''' ([[Smithsonian trinomial|33Ha19]]<ref>Huebchen, Karl Raymond. "[http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/HUEBCHEN%20KARL.pdf?ucin1147403287 The Ronald Watson Gravel Site (15Be249): An examination of the Late Woodland/Fort Ancient transition in Boone County, Kentucky]".  Thesis, [[University of Cincinnati]], 2006, 28.  Accessed 2010-111-03.</ref>) is an [[archaeological site]] in the southwestern portion of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Ohio]]. Located near [[Newtown, Ohio|Newtown]] in [[Hamilton County, Ohio|Hamilton County]],<ref name=nris /> the site includes the remains of a village of the [[Fort Ancient]] culture and of multiple [[tumulus|burial mounds]]. Numerous bodies have been found in and around the mounds as a result of thorough site investigations. The archaeological value of the site has resulted in its use in the study of similar locations and in its designation as a [[historic site]].

==Excavations==
Local residents began to explore the Turpin site at the end of the eighteenth century.  At this time, it appears that at least three mounds were located in the vicinity of the main village site, as well as a Native American [[cemetery]].  This cemetery was a primary focus of an [[excavation (archaeology)|excavation]] in 1800, which resulted in the unearthing of fifty skeletons.<ref name=dohp>Owen, Lorrie K., ed.  ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''.  Vol. 1.  [[St. Clair Shores, Michigan|St. Clair Shores]]: Somerset, 1999, 680.</ref>

In 1881, the premier mound at the site — then on the farmstead of Philip Turpin — was recorded as being known as one of the principal prehistoric sites in [[Anderson Township, Hamilton County, Ohio|Anderson Township]]; at that time, it stood {{convert|10|ft}} high, and its base had a circumference of {{convert|175|ft}}.  Due to its size and location along the road between [[Cincinnati]] and [[Batavia, Ohio|Batavia]], it was a local landmark.  Surrounding the mound was the densest portion of the cemetery; an 1877 history of the area said that "human remains may be exhumed with almost every lift of spade or shovel."<ref>Ford, Henry A., et al.  ''[http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohhamilt/histhc/242.htm History of Hamilton County Ohio]''.  [[Cleveland]]: Williams, 1881, 243-244.</ref>  Other mounds at the site included a stone mound believed to have been built during the [[Woodland period|Late Woodland period]] and an earth mound dating from the Fort Ancient period.  During the late nineteenth century, two of the smaller mounds at the site were excavated under the direction of Charles Metz, and the Fort Ancient mound (the primary mound at the site) was investigated in 1947 by an expedition sponsored by the [[Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal|Cincinnati Museum of Natural History]].<ref name=voss />{{rp|176}}  Charles Metz had reported that this mound had apparently been reduced by the Turpin family. Over sixty bodies were found to have been interred within it.<ref name=voss />{{rp|177}}  While both adults and children were buried within many Fort Ancient mounds, the presence of many infant bodies in the Turpin mound distinguishes it from some other mounds of the period.<ref name=voss />{{rp|183–184}}  Unlike many Fort Ancient mounds, this mound was found to include no structures underneath the actual mound, and few bodies were accompanied by [[grave goods]].<ref name=voss />{{rp|303}}

==Contemporary understanding==
The professional excavations of the twentieth century revealed that the Turpin site was primarily a Fort Ancient village, although some [[Woodland period|Late Woodland]] influence was also present.<ref name=dohp />  Writing in 1966, archaeologist James Griffin classified Turpin and the nearby [[Clough Creek and Sand Ridge Archeological District|Sand Ridge site]] within the Madisonville Focus of the Fort Ancient culture.<ref name=voss>Brady-Rawlins, Kathleen.  ''[http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=osu1180454140 The O.C. Voss Site: Reassessing What We Know about the Fort Ancient Occupation of the Central Scioto Drainage and Its Tributaries]''.  Diss. [[Ohio State University]], 2007.  Accessed 2010-04-12.</ref>{{rp|13}}  Twenty years later, a study of the chronology of the Fort Ancient culture assigned Turpin to the Early Fort Ancient period and the [[Mariemont Embankment and Village Site|Madisonville site]] to the Late Fort Ancient period.  The typical resident of an Early Fort Ancient village lived in a single-family house, unlike the larger multiple-family houses found at villages such as the [[Mariemont Embankment and Village Site|Madisonville site]] in [[Mariemont, Ohio|Mariemont]],<ref name=voss />{{rp|4–5}} just across the [[Little Miami River]] from Newtown.<ref>DeLorme. ''Ohio Atlas & Gazetteer''.  7th ed.  [[Yarmouth, Maine|Yarmouth]]: [[DeLorme]], 2004, 75.  {{ISBN|0-89933-281-1}}.</ref>

Based on [[artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]] found at the site, such as decorated [[ceramic]]s and [[Mississippian culture pottery|tempered]] pottery, the study's author concluded that the site's inhabitants were influenced by [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian]] groups such as the people of the [[Angel phase]].<ref name=voss />{{rp|4–5}}  Among the distinctive features of Turpin pottery is the presence of [[guilloché]] whose holes include smaller holes at their centers; this feature has also been found at two other sites in the valley of the Little Miami.<ref name=voss />{{rp|122}}  Writing in 1986, Wesley Cowan proposed Turpin as a [[type site]] for a [[Archaeological phase|phase]] of the Fort Ancient culture in southwestern Ohio, lasting from AD 1000 to 1250.<ref name=voss />{{rp|247}}

==Recognition==
As one of southwestern Ohio's more significant archaeological sites, the Turpin site has been used as a benchmark for the study of other Fort Ancient sites in the [[Ohio River]] watershed.  In 2007, Kathleen Brady-Rawlins made extensive use of data from Turpin in her [[post excavation]] analysis of the O.C. Voss Site in western [[Franklin County, Ohio|Franklin County]], along with other sites in southern and central Ohio.<ref name=voss />{{rp|303}}  Furthermore, the site has been recognized as worthy of [[historic preservation|prehistoric preservation]] by the [[National Park Service]]; it was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1974.  Four other sites in the Newtown vicinity, including the Madisonville site, are also listed on the National Register.<ref name=nris />  The Turpin site and the surrounding farm are still owned by the Turpin family, which grows [[sod]] on the property.<ref>[http://www.turpinfarms.com/Farm%20History.html Farm History], Turpin Farms.  Accessed 2010-04-12.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.turpinfarms.com Owner's website]

{{Fort Ancient culture}}
{{Archaeological NRHP in Hamilton County, Ohio}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Ohio]]
[[Category:Fort Ancient culture]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Hamilton County, Ohio]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Hamilton County, Ohio]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio]]
[[Category:Archaeological type sites]]